Manufacture of tapestry or printed carpets, rugs, table-covers, and the like



J. MORTON. MANUFACTURE OF TAPESTRY 0R PRINTED CARPETS, BUGS, TABLE COVERS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICAIION FILED A-PR.4, I919.

PatentedSept; 27, 1921.

WITNESSES,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES MORTON, F IDENTONHILL, CARLISLE, ENGLAND.

MANUFACTURE OF TAPESTRY OR PRINTED CARPET S, BUGS, TABLE-COVERS, AND THE LIKE.

Application filed April 4,

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of tapestry or printed fabrics, such as carpets, rugs, table covers, and the like.

In the well known art of printing varicolored yarns on drums, the printed yarns to be subsequently used as pile warps in the manufacture of looped pile and velvet pile, tapestry carpets, rugs, table covers, andthe like, (hereinafter referred to generally as carpets or the like) it has hitherto been usual to print, in one continuous thread, the warp necessary for the entire length of the article, that is to say, from the beginning of the'bottom cross border to the end. of the top cross border. It has thus been necessary to have different sized drums for every desired length of carpet or the like, and, in the case of large carpets or the like, very large and very expensive printing drums have to be employed. Owing to the great cost of these large drums the manufacture of large tapestry carpets has been much curtailed, indeed it has been considered impracticable to make carpets longer than, say, 15 feet in length.

'The method at present in use involves keeping large stocks of warp of every individual size and coloring wanted for the different designs with the result that the manufacturer has either to limit his ranges to a few sizes and colorings or risk keeping very heavy stocks.

. Iy invention has for its object to obviate the necessity for employing a large number of printing drums of'varying sizes and especially to obviate the employment of the large expensive and unwieldy drums, while, at the same time, with much smaller stocks, giving every facility for the production of printed carpets or" thelike, of indefinite length and of a variety of sizes.

Under my invention I use a printing drum of a size sufficient to print the required length of printed war yarn for both the better; re f r c ss or ers n 9? Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

1919. Serial No. 287,638.

this printed yarn on one beam, hereinafterreferred to as the border beam, and then, it may be on the same drum, or, on any drum preferably of the same size, I print filling warp yarn for the body or center of the article and set it on another beam hereinafter referred to as the filling beam. In the process of weaving, on the tapestry loom, while the cross borders are being woven, the heddles controlling the filling warp are put out of operation and the, yarn held so as not to becomepart of the cloth or to be taken up in any way; similarly, when the filling is being woven the yarn from the filling beam is put into action and is allowed to work one, two or more repeats, accordingto the sizeof the carpet or the like desired while the yarn from the border beam is put out of action. p

The warp yarns to beheld inactive may be raised by passing a rod under them and then holding them a clamp whereupon the warp ends are cut out. The clamp is fastened to the top part ofthe lathe. In this way the inactive threads are held above the operating warps. reinserted into the fabric and are woven in the original set of warps heldioutof use;

In one arrangement the rod is detachably attached to the upper part'of the lathe with the warp ends temporarily held out of use The warp ends are by successive weft threads before cutting out 1 until they are to be again inserted into the 7 a drum the same size. The drum used may be the same, and, in practice, would preferably be the same size, so as to maintain a uniform standardized size of drumthroughout the plant, butit may be smallerorlarger as required by the repeat of the pattern.

The essential point, however, is that since I print the body design'separately from the cross borders I am enabled to use a drum small enough to print only one repeat ofthe 79 es gn instead: o s pena gsing a drum representing the full length of the carpet or the like and embracing not only the cross borders but even several repeats of filling as well.

If the article being manufactured is to have side borders as well as cross borders then a separate printing is made for the side borders. The yarn for the side borders may be put on the filling beam or it may be put on a separate beam, according to requirements of design, but if put on a separate beam this beam would operate always in the weaving process in conjunction with the filling beam and be put into and out of action therewith.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood I have appended drawings showing, simply by way of example, the mode of manufacturing a rug in its simplest form with filling and bottom and top cross borders and also a carpet with complete border all around.

In the case of the rug Figure 1, which may be, for example, 68 long with the cross borders each 8 wide, then the printing drum would be, simply, of a size sufficient to print pile warps for filling and for borders of a length to give, when woven, 1'--4". The printed yarn for the cross borders a, b, is set on one beam (beam No. 1) and the yarn for the filling on another beam (beam No, 2) and the border yarn is first thrown into action for weaving the bottom cross border a and is then suspended while the filling yarn is put in action and continues in four repeats c, d, e, f, each l4", so as to give a total length of filling of 5-4L" when the filling is suspended and the border yarn again thrown into action to complete the top cross border 6. The borders being each 8" together make up 14E, the same as the filling repeats so that it is obvious one printing drum can be used for both and its size need only be sufficient to give the necessary length of yarn for each repeat. The filling need not, of course, have a repeat 14, in which case, if the repeat was other than 1-4c" or a multiple of 14t-, it would be printed on a drum of a different size.

If the rug is to have side borders as well as cross borders, then special printing would be made to suit the side borders just as in the case of the filling yarn. The yarn for the side borders and filling would be set on the same beam or on separate beams according to the requirements of the design. Preferably we would use separate beams and set the filling on a beam 2*, and the side border yarn on a beam 2", but both these beams would operatesimultaneously in the process of weaving, and be put in and out of action simultaneously to suit the operation of thecross borders as described.

The above is the procedure presuming a single article is being woven, but, of course, the rugs would be woven continuously (see A. B. C. Fig. 1) and, therefore, the top cross border of the one rug A and the bottom cross border of the next rug B would be on the same border beam and the double border would read forward from m to "y and then backward from 3 to the total width of the double border a, a as well as 5, 12 being equal to that of each repeat of the filling.

In the case of a carpet as at Fi 2, of say, a length of 12 feet and a width of Y9 feet with each cross border of 18 and the double cross border 3 feet, then'the filling and side borders would be in three repeats g, h, i, of 3feet each so that the printing drum need only be of sufiicient size to give 3 feet of pile warp when woven.

It will be obvious to those acquainted with the art that the procedure may be varied such as by using a beam for the cross border yarn andra separate beam for the corner yarn both beams being thrown into and out of action.v simultaneously; also, that printed carpets cai'rbe made of different lengths, while using the same size of printing drum, by varying the repeats of the filling theserepeats being preferably a multi' tiple of the width of the double cross border.

Owing to the fact that the body yarn may be one filling beam which is entirely independent of the border beams,it is possible to weave any variety of printed body or body made with colored dyed yarns with the same borders, and by changing the'filL ing beam only. Thus if the beams with border yarns contained suflicient length to weavetO carpets, instead of those 40carpets being the same as to color and size'as at present, it wouldbe possible to-weave, say 10 with printed pattern body, red ground prevailing; 10 with'printedpattern body, blue ground prevailing; 1O printedpattern body, cream ground prevailing; and a further 1O woven with body warps made from, says, red dyed yarn. These would all be woven with the same border and could be woven in any variety of lengths in the vari ous carpets;

This capacity of, being able to have any variety of body, either printed or made from plain dyed ,yarns, independent of borders, is rendered possible by printing the yarnfor the borders separately from that for the body; and operating itin the weaving process independently of the body. It is of course possible, vice versa to have a variety of borders with the same body, also for the border to be made; of dyed yarns and the body printed, though the method above described of varying the body, and maintaining the same borders during a weaving, will be found, in practice, to be the most useful. It will therefore, be seen that the process described gives a much enhanced value to this type of article, thus affording an endless variety in general design at small cost and without involving heavy stocks.

It will be evident that the above description refers to carpets or the like with a defined border and a repeating or plain filling as distinct from what are known as medallion designs, but the method also applies to designs of the medallion type which reverse at the center of the carpet or other article. In such types the'improved method enables drums to be used of only half the circumference of those presently in use and involves only half the stocks for the same size of drum. The warp thread is printed to the center of the medallion only and is, afterward, set on two separate beams, one beam having been set with the pattern reading Forward, the other with the pattern reading Backward. These two beams are then used in the loom as before described the one being out of operation while the other is weaving, thereby forming a complete medallion design.

The following advantages arise from the method of manufacture as hereinbefore described.

There is considerable economy in the initial outlay for plant and, owing to the fact that a uniform standardized sizeof drum can be used for various lengths and designs of carpets, there is great economy and facility in the running of the plant. Any size of carpet or the like can be produced with a small sized drum, and a bordered carpet, or the like, can be producedof indefinite length, which is impossible at present. A much greater variety in design and coloring can be produced from the same amount of printing, and there is no necessity, consequently, for keeping large stocks of any given size or coloring.

There may be produced, at will, from the same printed warps, carpets of different lengths, one after the other, instead of having to make them all of the same length as v at present. There is also given the facility of weaving a variety of prlnted designs and colorings with the same borders and vice versa, also a dyed yarn can be used for the filling, while the borders (cross and side) may be made of printed yarns, or vice versa, thus giving an enhanced value to this class of goods. 7

Having now fully described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A method of manufacturing tapestry or printed carpets, and the like, in which the yarn for forming the cross borders is first printed on a printing drum independently of the warp yarn for the body of the fabric and i then, in order t9 be WWW, eamed on separate beams and, during the weaving process, the body yarn is put out of action and held so as not to form part of the cloth when the cross border yarn is in action, and vice versa, substantially as described.

2. A method of manufacturing tapestry or printed carpets and the like in which a printing drum of a size for printing the required length of warp. yarn for both the bottom and top cross borders is used and the yarn printed thereon and, after being printed, is set on a weaving beam and, then, on the same drum, the warp yarn for the body of thecarpet is printed and subsequently set on a separate weaving beam, the yarns from the beams being thereafter woven on a tap estry loom and, while the cross border yarn is being woven in the loom the heddles controlling the body Warp yarns are put out of operation and the yarn held so as not to become part of the cloth, while, when the body of the carpet is being woven the body yarn is put into action and is allowed to work one or more repeats the heddles controlling the border yarn being then put out of action and the cross border yarn held so as not to become part of, the cloth, substantially as described.

3. A method of manufacturing tapestry or printed carpets and the like in which a printing drum of a size for printing the required length of warp yarn for both the bottom and top cross borders is used and the yarn printed thereon and after being printed is set on a weaving beam and, then, on a drum of the same size, the warp yarn for the body of the carpet is printed and subsequently set on a separate weaving beam, the yarns from the beams being thereafter woven on a tapestry loom and, while the cross border yarn is being woven in the loom, the heddles controlling the body warp yarn are put out of operation and the yarn held so as not to become part of the cloth, while, when the body of the carpet is being woven the body yarn is putinto action and is allowed to work one or more repeats the heddle controlling the border yarn being then put out of action and the cross border yarn held so as not to become part of the cloth, substantially as described. 7

4. A method of manufacturing tapestry or printed carpets and the like in which a printing drum of a size for printing the required length of warp yarn for both the bottom and top cross borders and corners is used and the yarn printed thereon and after being printed is set on a weaving beam and, then, on the same drum or a drum the same size, the warp yarn for the body and side borders of the carpet is printed and subsequently set on a separate weaving beam, the yarns from the beams being thereafter woven on a tapestry loom and, while the cross border and corner yarn is being woven in the loom the heddles controlling the body and side border warp yarns are put out of operation and the yarn held so as not to become part of the cloth, while, when the body of the carpet is being woven the body and side border yarn is put into action and is allowed to work one or more repeats the heddles controlling the border yarn being then put out of action and the cross border yarn held so as not to become part of the cloth substantially as described.

5. The method of manufacturing tapestry or printed carpets and the like in which the warp yarn for the body design of the carpet is printed separately from the cross border yarn, the printing being effected on a drum small enough to print only one repeat of the body design, the printed crossborder yarn and the printed body yarn being set on separate beams and woven in the tapestry loom the yarn from the one beam being put out of action when the yarn from the other beam is in action and vice versa.

6. The method of manufacturing tapestry or printed carpets and the like in which the warp yarn for the body design of the carpet is printed separately from the cross border yarn, the printing being efiected on a drum small enough to print only one repeat of the body and side border design, the printed cross border yarn and the printed body and side border yarn being set on separate beams and woven in the tapestry loom the crossborder yarn being put out of action when the body and side border yarn isin action, and vice versa. In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' i JAMES MORTON.

WVitnesseS i j H. BROCKBANK, W. Gr .'BoYD. 

